McNair conference at UD Sept. 30-Oct. 1

5:15 p.m., Sept. 27, 2005--For the third straight year, UD will host the National McNair Scholars Research Conference, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 30-Oct. 1, at John M. Clayton Hall, the Trabant University Center and the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in Wilmington.

Conference highlights include student research presentations, a graduate school fair and workshops.

One of 162 programs serving more than 3,000 students nationwide, UD’s Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program honors physicist Dr. Ronald E. McNair, the second African-American astronaut in space, who was among those who died aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1986.

Keynote speaker for the conference is Lewis Gordon, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Philosophy at Temple University. His expertise includes Africana philosophy, philosophy of human and life sciences, philosophy of religion and education, aesthetics and theories of race and racism. Gordon served as executive editor of volumes I-V of Radical Philosophy Review: Journal of the Radical Philosophy Association and as coeditor of the Routledge book series on Africana thought. Ongoing Visiting Professor of Government and Philosophy at the University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica, Gordon is president of the Caribbean Philosophical Association.

Free public events scheduled as a part of the conference include:

Oral presentations by student participants from visiting McNair Scholar universities and colleges, from 9:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. and 2-4 p.m., Friday, Sept. 30, in Clayton Hall, and 2-3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 1, at Winterthur;
Presentation panels on a variety of academic disciplines, including fine arts, engineering, public policy, humanities, social sciences and education. Each oral presentation panel will conclude with a single 10-minute, question-and-answer period; and
A poster session designed to foster one-on-one interaction and provide an opportunity for scholars to share results of their research, will be held from 3-4:45 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 1, at Winterthur.

A graduate school fair will be held from 4-6 p.m., Friday, Sept. 30, in the Trabant University Center. Representatives from more than 50 schools [www.udel.edu/mcnairconference/fair.html] will attend.

With a 100 percent success rate for participants who have applied to and been accepted into the graduate programs of their choice, the McNair Program at UD is the most successful such program in America.

The McNair Program also is the model for the newly created University Undergraduate Scholars Program, an initiative that uses the McNair program model to provide services to undergraduates to create an even more diversified body of qualified scholars at UD.

For more information, call (302) 831-4396 or visit [www.udel.edu/mcnairconference].

Article by Jerry Rhodes

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